Walking the Walk before Talking the Talk

After been in retirement from Detention Ministry for over five years, I realize saying the penitential prayer at Mass the phrase ” what I have done and WHAT I HAVE FAIL TO DO ” .

So my health is good, my mind is function regularly good,( I had never been to bright anyway) let’s do it.

St Dimas outreach will have an emphasis in juvenile justice. So I went to Juvenile Court, where the problems end. In our society we have the philosophy to find the guilty, punish him/her and solve the social issue. At this moment I am not going to explain how the Court works, I will place an explanation in my other Blog Political group. I am going to explain briefly three divisions. Juvenile Delinquency juveniles that committed a crime, they may be send to programs or detention. Juvenile Dependency protects children that are not in a safe environment or are victims of abuse and/or neglects. And children in need of services, for those children that do not fit in either of the two previous cases but the family or caregivers realize they need help. Mary agencies are involved in provide these services.

The big picture is; all these juveniles are part of our community, living amount us, some our neighbors or relatives, and common denominator is similar, is the family is dysfunctional the children have a big chance to be in trouble. Have a perfect justice system to solve all the problems is impossible.

The solution is in the community and the effort must be place in making the life of the people more stable with education, with emphasis in mental health, addition is part of the mental health issue, employment, etc.

For that reason before talking the talk, I have been walking the walk, going to the places with gang activities, and shootouts, to see the faces of the decent people living in those neighborhoods that are afraid to go out. To see how we can improve the living conditions and show them that other people care. And then, we start talking the talk, in my mind there is going to be human face, the young lady with a dress faded of so many washes and two small children with no shoes, not an abstract label a poor mom with children. The housing project with a patio of cloth lines, no laundry room. The common areas has some grass, not a lawn or bushes or flowers.

In this walk we had a Deputy Mayor, the Chief of Staff of the Mayor, the District commissioner and other figures. Ok them maybe for the photo op but they walk and knock doors, and we all felt, smelled, and sow poverty at arm’s length.